This invention relates generally to insertion and control apparatuses used with substantially stiff conduit having turns and carrying fluids. More particularly, the invention relates to such insertion and control apparatuses capable of being connected in communication from an inlet of the storage device through a second axis and a first axis to a connected end of the stiff conduit.
The inspection and clearance functions of pumping system repair utilize devices that may be adequate but sometimes suffer from a number of disadvantages in use. Inspecting a plumbing system at a residence to find blockage may begin in the kitchen of a residence. The primary device used for inspection looks like a dolly with wheels and handles. A reel is rotatably mounted about a first axis onto the dolly. Coaxial cable having a camera at the free end of the coaxial cable is wound around the reel. A relatively tall, wide, and bulky dolly is then lifted from the service truck, rolled through possibly a living room into the kitchen. Underneath the kitchen sink, a trap clean out is opened on the fixture trap at a dip between the inlet and outlet of the pipe. Extending from the trap clean-out into the kitchen area is a foot and a half to two foot extender pipe. The camera and coaxial cable is extended through the extender pipe and into the plumbing system past as many as four or more 90xc2x0 turns before the camera reaches the blockage in the pipe. Merely shoving the cable into the pipe will not work because the cable needs to be controlled and turned in the desired direction. In the maze of plumbing pipes, the cable must extend from inside the kitchen through the kitchen sink trap to the potential blockage location over 70 feet. So, beyond that first turn that stopped the forward progress of the cable media, perhaps four to ten additional turns in the pipe must be navigated around and controlled by aiming the cable to reach the blockage.
For example, when the camera and cable reach a tee the operator needs to aim the cable in the desired direction by twisting the cable immediately outside the extender pipe 360xc2x0 or more until the proper angle is felt by the operator and the hose moves forward again in the proper direction. Consequently, for each additional turn, additional twisting and torquing is applied to the cable in a localized area on the cable. To turn the free end of the cable to the right in the tee located 70 feet from the kitchen, the operator unwinds additional cable from the dolly and keeps twisting the cable up by hand in the mid-portion of the cable in the kitchen area in a clock-wise rotation until the front free end of the cable twists sufficiently to turn in the correct position. Meanwhile, all that twisting urges the rear portion of the cable to twist in an equal and opposite reaction from the area of the localized hand twisting but the cable cannot because the rear end of the cable is held in place by the single, first axis, reel on the dolly in the kitchen.
The accumulated twisting of the cable at a one or two hand width localized area on the cable causes fatigue, wear and damage to the cable. Occasionally puddles of water and sludge accumulate on the floor where the electrical device is used. Damaged and exposed insulation on a coaxial cable that is hooked up to the household power supply may present the danger of shock or electrocution. The economic disadvantage to such localized hand twisting that damages the cable is the shorter life cycle of the product with its accompanying replacement costs of the cable, the turn around time from sending the cable to the manufacturers several states away for repairs, and the down-time costs. The inconvenience to the operator of this device includes a significant amount of manual effort and resulting fatigue from the entire process. To control and aim the direction of the camera and free end of the cable around each turn, the operator may have to twist a long rigid cable, many feet long, by hand in the mid-portion of the cable to turn and twist the front end of the cable while fighting and overcoming the opposing resistance to the torque to the operator from the rear coiled end of the cable fixed to the reel on the dolly. The inconvenience to the client of the present device includes the mess of sludge created on the kitchen floor from retracting 75 feet of cable that may be full of muck from the dirty pipe into the kitchen onto an exposed open face reel. As the cable is rewound, many feet of cable accumulates and becomes encased with muck in the pipe. As the sludge covered cable exits the kitchen trap, crosses over and onto the floor, then back up to the reel, sludge can be wiped off that cable onto the floor and muck flies off the cable from the rotating reel spraying onto a food preparation area.
The width and bulk of the inspection dolly is even a bigger disadvantage in other locations beside the kitchen. For example, the dolly device in a small bathroom would be hard to maneuver underneath a sink or in between a toilet and a shower. Similarly, the wide bulky inspection dolly would be hard to maneuver in the basement around obstacles such as in between hot water tank and furnace and other narrow enclosed areas.
The clearance function in a residential plumbing system may involve some large and bulky equipment.
To clear a blockage in the plumbing at a residence from the kitchen with a high pressure hose system involves a high pressure truck and a high pressure hose on a dolly. For example, a high pressure truck would be parked in the driveway and have a hose extending from the truck leading into the home through possibly a living room into kitchen. A high pressure hose device may include a dolly having a reel rotatably mounted on the dolly for winding and unwinding approximately 75 feet of high pressure hose about the reel. The bulky hose dolly is carried from the truck through the font door to the middle of the kitchen and connected to the high pressure hose that leads out to the truck outside. A trap underneath the kitchen sink is opened. An extender pipe that extends about 1.5 feet to 2 feet into the kitchen area is inserted into the trap. The high pressure hose with a jet propelled nozzle at the free end of the hose is pulled and unwound from the dolly and then inserted through the extender pipe into the plumbing system. There can be as many as four or more 90xc2x0 turns before the nozzle reaches the blockage in the pipe.
The problem encountered at each turn when navigating through the maze of turns in the pathway to the blockage is how to control and to aim the free end of the high pressure hose at each of the many turns, unseen and possibly 75 feet away from the operator which is stopping the forward progress of the high pressure hose. Shoving the hose further or harder does not work. At the unseen turn which may possibly be 75 feet from the operator in the kitchen, there could be a 90xc2x0 elbow, a tee, a cross, or a 45xc2x0 lateral joint which requires controlling the direction of the free end to not only proceed in the proper direction but also to proceed at all around the 90xc2x0 pipe turn. Because high pressure hoses are too stiff to bend around a corner even with a jet propelled nozzle or to turn by pushing force, some other devices may be used that include a spring coiled snake that is rotated mechanically by a machine which drills the coiled snake around a turn. However, those devices suffer from the disadvantage of damaging the pipe by abrading the pipe interior.
A high pressure hose has a rigid stiff wall that will not turn in a pipe of its own volition even if it is pushed hard inside a pipe when encountering a 90xc2x0 angle turn. The hose can be moved around its stopped position by the operator in the kitchen at the extender pipe by twisting the hose by hand 360xc2x0 or more until the proper angle is felt and the high pressure hose moves forward again. Several additional turns in the pipe must be navigated around by controlling the hose before reaching the blockage. Consequently, additional twisting and torquing is applied to the hose in localized areas at about one or two hand width lengths. Each twisting torque motion made by the operator in the midportion of the high pressure hose to control and move the direction of the free end of the hose in the front makes the rear end of the hose want to twist in equal and opposite reaction but cannot. The rear end of the hose is fixed by a single axis reel on the dolly.
The safety danger of the accumulated twisting on the rigid high pressured hose in a localized area is that it causes fatigue, wear and damage to the high pressure hose. A damaged high pressure hose operating under 4,000 lb/in2 can be dangerous. If the high pressure hose explodes, it can lacerate the operator""s hands or damage the operator""s eyes. The diminished life cycle of a product from all the twisting on the hose has the economic disadvantage of the cost of replacement, the amount of turn around time from sending the hose to a manufacturer several states away for replacement and the down time costs. The current system also suffers from the disadvantage that while the operator is facing toward and focusing on the extender pipe and twisting the hose with his hands, the high pressure hose near the hose dolly may twist and kink under high pressure behind the operator""s back out of sight presenting potential injury to the operator.
To accomplish the necessary turn and direction control required by the front end of the high pressure hose, the operator has to twist and to create a sufficient amount of torque over the length of a long rigid high pressure hose by hand while simultaneously fighting the main rear portion of the high pressure hose wound up on the reel that resists the torque created by the user. Finally, an inconvenience to the client of the current system is the mess created in the kitchen as the sludge encased 75 feet of hose is rewound out of the pipe onto the floor into the hose reel where the muck can fly off the hose from the rotating reel. It would be desirable to have a means that would be less messy, less bulky for maneuvering, and would improve the ease of control of the hose. It would also be desirable to provide hose control with less localized damage to the hose.
It, therefore, is an object of this invention to provide an insertion and control apparatus for use with a substantially stiff conduit in a pipe having turns and carrying fluids that improves the ease of controlling the stiff conduit.
Another object is to provide a way to control the stiff conduit around turns with less localized damage to the conduit to prolong the life of the conduit.
A further object of the invention is the provision of neater and more compact devices for inspecting and clearing obstructions in a plumbing system.
Accordingly, an insertion and control apparatus of the present invention includes a frame and a storage and aiming device. The insertion and control apparatus is made for use with a substantially stiff conduit including a free end having a curl nearby and a connected end for use in a pipe having turns and usable for carrying fluids. The storage and aiming device is rotatably mounted upon a first axis winding and unwinding the conduit storage and aiming device. The aiming device is rotatably mounted on the frame about the second axis. The second axis is offset relative to the first axis for controlling the direction of the stiff conduit in the pipe. The aiming device includes an inlet and is capable of being connected in communication from the inlet of the storage and aiming device through the second axis and the first axis to the connected end of the stiff conduit. The frame includes an arm. The arm is mounted onto the frame into the central plane for guarding the conduit on the reel from damage and for grasping to transport the apparatus.
The storage and aiming device also includes a reel. The reel can have a width that is less than the radius of the reel and defines a central plane. The frame includes at least two legs that are foldably and rotatably mounted about the second axis onto the frame into the central plane.
The storage and aiming device has a first position for dispensing conduit straight ahead into the pipe while the conduit is stopped by the turn inside the pipe. The aiming device also has a second position offset from the first position about the second axis for turning the conduit around the turn to proceed ahead. The aiming device also has a conduit rewinding third position that is offset from the second position about the second axis for turning the conduit around the turn to proceed backward for rewinding the conduit into the storage and aiming device. The rotatably mounted about a first axis storage and aiming device has a water-tight connection.
The storage and aiming device includes a housing that is carried by the storage and aiming device for rotation with the storage and aiming device about a second axis. The housing surrounds the reel for containing the sludge.
The insertion and control apparatus may include a predetermined length of stiff conduit. The stiff conduit can be elastically bendable yet substantially stiff. The stiff conduit may include a free end and a connected end. The stiff conduit has a continuous and water-proof periphery. The predetermined length of the stiff conduit is constructed and arranged to be wound on and unwound from the reel. The stiff conduit has a curl near the free end of the stiff conduit. The stiff conduit is constructed and arranged to carry fluids there along in fluid flow relationship therewith. The stiff conduit is constructed and arranged to retain liquid at a pressure over 100 lb/in2.
The stiff conduit further comprises a utilization device connected to the free end of the stiff conduit. The utilization device is a nozzle constructed and arranged for liquid. More specifically, the nozzle is constructed and arranged for liquid at a pressure over 100 lb/in2 whereby the nozzle has rearwardly projected apertures for propelling forward the nozzle and the attached high pressure hose.
In another embodiment of the invention, the rotatably mounted about a first axis storage and aiming device has an electrical connection. The stiff conduit in this embodiment of the invention is a cable media. The cable media may include a coaxial cable or a fiber optic cable. The utilization device can be a camera such as a video camera.